3885 - Jewish Laws by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 15, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 40.

3885 — Jewish Laws

By Editor

You say in No. 3875 that Lev. 25:4 is not binding, and class it among Jewish national laws. Is the term "the law of God," or "the law of the Lord," ever applied to these national laws? J. J. S.

In a very clear sense it would seem that every law that the Lord ever gave was a law of the Lord. It may not be the law of God, the summary of all morality, like the Decalogue; nevertheless, as God gave it to man, it must come from Him, and consequently would be the law of the Lord. That law might be eternal in its scope, as are the Ten Commandments—not only eternal, but universal; but that law might be a limited law, given simply for a little time, and then expiring by limitation. It was a command of the Lord, or a law of the Lord, that Noah should build the ark; that he and his household should enter into it. But when the Deluge was passed, that law had expired by limitation. So it was regarding all the scriptures that were given in the last dispensation. The laws regulating those sacrifices were laws of the Lord. They, however, expired by limitation at the cross. "The law of the Lord" sometimes refers directly to the Decalogue. Sometimes it is very comprehensive, and includes all (what is called the law) the books of Moses. The context and character of the law will usually determine where it belongs. For an instance of where one of these temporary things is spoken of as "the law of the Lord," see Luke 2:22-24,—the offering made by Mary was given "as it is written in the law of the Lord." There are other expressions similar, which one with a concordance can easily learn.